Ye Ole Site of Spirit Quests

Jayananda Thakur

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After Chandra finished his ritual duties, he knows that it is time to teleport across the ocean, back to Sherlock’s domicile … and so his two feet arrives upon the cobble stones of Baker Street, within a wink of an eye, and he drifts through a small crack in the window sill, like a wisp of fog, and he duly appears before Sherlock in a slightly visible ethereal body … and then, sitting opposite Sherlock’s confounded facial expression, Chandra said, “Namaste Lord Sherlock,

“Take a look at this drop of water,” continued Chandra, as he takes an eyedropper from his coat and squeezes a drop onto the table’s top. “You asked me about man’s eternal soul, well, there are hundreds of thousands of microscopic organisms swimming around in this drop of water, and yes, they too have souls, just as the huge body of an elephant has a similar soul of the same size. Whether the body be huge or infinitesimal, the soul within floods the entire body with consciousness.”

Sherlock reaches for something in a drawer, and Chandra says, “Put away your magnifying glass, Sherlock, it will not allow you to see these souls, nor can you see the bodies of these tiny creatures swimming around in their vast world of liquidity. I have teleported into the far future, and I have looked at specimens through their powerful microscopes, and still the soul is invisible to our eyes, because the soul is one ten-thousandth the tip of a hair, and thus invisible to our eyes.”

“Sometimes the path can be a little bumpy in the beginning,” whispered Chandra into Sherlock’s ear.

“We can converse person to person, no need for whispers,” said Sherlock.

After a long pause, Chandra continued, “the path most often requires one to discard baggage that prevents the seeker from flying upward into the heavenly realms …”

“And this means that I must discard something … what?” implored Sherlock.

“Let me narrate a story which illustrates this situation of shedding things that hinder,” offered Chandra, and he told a story thus;

“Once upon a time, on the peripheral edge of the Bermuda Triangle, there rested an exotic bird paradise on a celestial island in the sea.

“Bermuda Triangle?” wondered Sherlock…

“Yes, this triangle was known by men to be a cursed area of the sea, off the coast of Bermuda, and was always a great mystery to man, as many boats and aeroplanes have disappeared after entering it’s domain. The truth is, this area is a conduit, it is like a wormhole, or a portal that teleports whoever enters, and transports them into other dimensions, other lands, other planets, into different eras, into different centuries.

What is on the “other side?”

“That island on the edge of this Bermuda wormhole, was populated by exotic birds who happily lived in peace for centuries, because it was protected by the curse of that triangle, and humans feared the reputation of “they who enters nare ever return.” Thus that abode of the exotic birds flourished, until one day a wooden ship appeared like a bad dream, with it’s black flag of skull-and-cross-bones flapping in the wind. The birds turned their colorful necks to observe this ship, full of black-bearded pirates, who then proceeded to do what man does best…”

And Chandra paused a few moments, as Sherlock’s eye-brows arched, as if to say, “what, pray tell, what is it, that man does best?”

“The very thing that man, the two legged animal, does best … is to kill every living creature that lay within his wicked eyesight…”

“Why does man delight in killing? This is because he is not in harmony with the creative golden spiral of the universe. He cannot create anything wondrous with his two clumsy hands … therefore he is envious of all that has beauty … envious of all that flows with the magical Fibonacci numbers, he is disharmonious with all that is seen in the golden ratio of the divine proportions of creation,

and all he can do, is to use his gift of free will, and wrongly choose to kill that which he fears, that which is beyond his comprehension. And thus he thinks his crude murder of life to be a sort of brutish creativity … like it is some kind of esoteric work of art … but it is only his fear and hatred of God’s immaculate creation.”

“And so,” continued Chandra, “the beautiful birds resided in caves etched within the side of a great mountain, and thus Blackbeard and his motley crew of pirates proceeded to fire their man’o-war cannon balls at the near mountain, which decimated the nests of unsuspecting birds, who raised a squalor of protest.”

The Condor’s only hope of survival from the pirate’s fiery assault was to fly up the sheer walls of the vertical face of the mountain, up to the lofty peaks without hesitation, … but alas, those condors who were attached to their nest and eggs, and tried to secure either nest or eggs held in their talons, they could not make the vertical ascent as quickly, being burdened down’, and they could not escape the cannon balls exploding all about the mountain face, and they fell down to death, while the Condors who flew without a second thought, leaving all behind, only they lived … so, the moral of the story, is that when the house is on fire, rhe survivor exits, to reach the goal, sometimes he must leave cherished attachments behind. That is what the moral of the story seems to be telling … but then again, things are not always what they seem.”

“There is nothing more deceptive than obvious facts,” said Sherlock, quoting one of his favorite axioms.

After assimilating all of this elaborate elucidation, Sherlock suggested, “Yes, it may seem that the birds that flew off were selfish, just trying to save themselves … and those who tried to save the nest, bore true nobility of heart, possessing a true moral compass.

“But, from another viewpoint, it may be said that in order for one to save himself from imminent danger, the situation may preclude the giving up of one’s attachments, to first save yourself, then go back and save others.”

To this, Chandra said, “Sometimes you can’t save others until you first save yourself … but that is not what really happened! The most common mistake people make, is to smugly think that our particular species of homo sapiens is more intelligent than animals who live in so-called primitive ages … and so it may come as a shock to our big brains, to discover that primitive animals possess the ability to proffer a challenge to one’s so-called modern intelligence.

“And so, keeping that in mind … this is what really happened:”

Some of the Condors pretended to be dead, laying there still, in the nests … while the other Condors flew upward into the clouds, until they became tiny specks in the sky before merging into the clouds. To which the Pirates laughed loudly, and hurled insults up into the skies, crying out;

The Pirates thought they were gone, until they heard a faint wailing noise, way up in the sky,

getting louder and louder … and before they could discern the reality of what was about to happen, a multitude of Condors suddenly materializing out of thin air, and they came swooping down with talons extended, claws eager to dig deep into the backs of the terrified Pirates, who ran here and there, some being picked up in the air with the Condor’s talons so sharp and strong, and firmly embedded into the bleeding backs of hapless pirates, and some were dropped into the ocean, as other terrified pirates ran all about, helter skelter, while the Condors ripped up their sails, tore down their masts, and overturned fires and kegs of oil, which set the ship ablaze.

As the wooden ship became a blazing inferno, more pirates came running out of the bowels of the ship, some jumping into the churning water and swimming ashore, where they lay exhausted on the beach for a long time. After gathering their wits, they looked around, and gazed up into the sky, and they thought that the Condors were gone, and they breathed deeply with great relief and gratitude … and then after a long while, a low and distant growl summoned their attention, and looking towards that alarming sound, they saw small specs on the distant shore, specs that grew larger and larger, until the true shapes began to manifest … and to their utter dismay, the pirates found themselves confronted with a pack of snarling and hungry wolves …

great grey wolves much larger than ever seen in Europe. Both pirates and wolves stood there staring at each other, the men frozen, afraid to run, and then the whole pack moved simultaneously, just a mere inch, which set off sheer panic throughout the bodies of the terrified pirates, and they all turned and ran for dear life.”

Srila Prabhupada has admired several Christians and non-Christians, such as St. Francis of Assisi, and Soren Kierkegaard, and Socrates, whom he said was Brahman realized. Of course, Srila Prabhupada said that Lord Jesus Christ is our guru. Srila Bhaktivinode said that we should not quarrel with other religions but appreciate “How nicely they are worshipping my Lord.” In this mood, I’ve been inspired by some passages from “Brothers Karamazov,” of which I feel that Dostoyevsky was inspired by Supersoul to write such moving and profound exhortations: The following passage is from the “Russian Monk” section of The Brothers Karamazov, the “Conversations and exhortations of Father Zossima.”

Exhortation 2 Humble love

Love a man even in his sin, for that is the semblance of Divine Love and is the highest love on earth. Love all God’s creation, the whole, and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light.

Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love. Love the animals:

God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled. Do not trouble it, don’t harass them, don’t deprive them of their happiness, don’t work against God’s intent. Man, do not pride yourself on superiority to the animals; they are without sin, and you, with your greatness, defile the earth by your appearance on it,

and leave the traces of your foulness after you—alas, it is true of almost every one of us! Love children especially, for they too are sinless like the angels; they live to soften and purify our hearts, as it were, to guide us. Woe to him who offends a child!

Father Anfin taught me to love children. The kind, silent man used often on our wanderings to spend the farthings given us on sweets and cakes for the children. He could not pass by a child without emotion, that’s the nature of the man. At some thoughts one stands perplexed, especially at the sight of men’s sin, and wonders whether one should use force or humble love. Always decide to use humble love. If you resolve on that once for all, you may subdue the whole world.

Loving humility is marvelously strong, the strongest of all things and there is nothing else like it.

Notes: Forgiveness is not an option. We can’t love every grain of sand, every ray of light, or a man even in his sin, or everything in god’s creation, when we are unforgiving. If we focus on the suffering we see everywhere, and we blame others for our pain, we will not get divine love. We are thinking it is “their” fault, they are the guilty ones for all my sufferings. But it is an “inside liability ” world, not a “they did it” world. It’s an inside job, it is my fault of past sins that reaps my present karma. They are only the agents of fructification of my karma coming back on me. Only when I forgive all others past and present and future, and ask them all to forgive me of my many sins and offenses, and by so doing, and by feeling the power of total unconditional forgiveness, given and taken, only then may I begin to love every grain of sand, every ray of light, every soul and child of god on this earth, and then all will be absorbed in a humble love of all living beings on God’s green earth. Forgiveness is one of the most powerful energies in this universe. As the Lord’s prayer says, “Lord, forgive my trespasses as I forgive those who trespass against me.”

This is the essence of Srila Prabhupada and Jayananda and other exalted devotees, who exemplify the rare treasure of divine love for Lord Krishna and universal love for everything and everyone, a humble love, which was the strongest of all things, which subdues the whole world. It is hard to image how any of us can go back to Godhead without this quality of total forgiveness, and loving everything in Krishna’s creation. Loving Krishna means loving everything and everyone, for He is there in all His creation.

“We evolve from these temporary bodies up, up and onward to higher bodies of light that don’t evolve materially anymore, because they are the final stage, they are the goal, we can reach this goal if we so desire. Some of my friends followed this path, with help from the masters, and they become liberated, and went to the deathless world of light. I really missed them, for there was no reunion in the next life. Also I was happy for them, because that’s the final goal, and I would try for it too, but I got this curse to deal with, I have to stay in my human body for such a long time — and so I reunite with some friends this way, in their next life, and the life after that, and on and on. In this drama of life after life, the soul yearns to evolve upwards out of material bodies, and into the other worlds of spirit … into the nexus.” “Katz of Hinterland” a novel – http://tinyurl.com/Katz-Amazon

“I do not know how much nectar the two syllables ‘Kṛṣ-ṇa’ have produced. When the holy name of Kṛṣṇa is chanted, it appears to dance within the mouth. We then desire many, many mouths. When that name enters the holes of the ears, we desire many millions of ears. And when the holy name dances in the courtyard of the heart, it conquers the activities of the mind, and therefore all the senses become inert.” Cc. Antya 1.99

The 3 most important questions a human being will ever ask

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The amazing story of how a woman flatlined on operating table and saw and heard everything that happened.

The great philosophical book penned by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur, titled “Tattva Viveka” is the inspiration for this thesis. Tattva Viveka means, “discerning the truth.”

There are three main questions posed by human beings. Number one is, “who am I?” Number two is, “what is this world?” And number three is, “what is my relationship to this world?”

There are two philosophies of the world that pose alternate answers to the 3 questions. The first philosophy, materialism, is espoused by atheists, and has been in the world since ancient times. The second philosophy is spiritual theism, which also has been around since time immemorial.

There are three answers to each respective question, one from each of the two philosophies. Such answers entail the nature of the absolute truth for human beings, according to their particular adherence to one of the philosophies, and thus gives them meaning and direction in their lives.

Materialistic philosophy makes the claim that inert matter exists, and conscious life exists, and everything is created from inert matter. Conscious life does not exist before or after inert matter. Philosophers from ancient times have espoused this materialistic philosophy, and written books on it.

Such philosophers of materialism were Carvaka in India, Yangchoo in China, Leucippus in Greece, and in Central Asia there was Sadanaplus, and Lucretious in Rome, and many others who taught this philosophy.

The materialistic answer to such questions is as follows – the self is nothing more than the combination of material elements, there is no soul, no God, no afterlife. At death, everything ends.

In order, the answers are – 1. “I am not soul, only a combination of matter, 2. This world is only matter, matter is the cause of all effects, and our body and mind are only the combination of elements of matter, and we somehow have consciousness. 3. My relationship with the world of matter is simply to enjoy life until death, because there is no liberation of any soul from the material world, no suffering in hell or enjoyment in heaven after the death of the body.

Theistic philosophy offers opposite answers and values in the world, we shall shortly present the answers from general theistic philosophy.

Let us first note that the true answer to each question is immutable in time. In other words, the truth gleaned from the three true answers cannot be changed in the present or future, and has always been so in the past. No amount of human manipulation can change such truths.

No scientific breakthrough or technological achievement, i.e., no space ship to Mars, no cloning of bodies, no genetic manipulation, etc., nothing can change the immutable truths of the true answers to the three questions. Such truths remain unchangeable in all ages, past, present and future.

We now turn to the theistic answers. This thesis avoids sectarian dogmas and doctrines to be used as points of proof, because when a person first hears the word “religion,” he/she immediately asks, “which sect or denomination is it?” They will reject such information because of their particular cultural and religious bias.

Generally people are concerned with their own religious dress and rituals and dogma and sect doctrine. Every person will think that “my country, my culture, my religion is the best.” This thesis opts to avoid sectarian thinking, and tries to give the essence of spiritual logic. After scientific methods are used to demonstrate these answers, then spiritual texts, which augment such answers, will be referenced.

The theistic answer to question #1 is as follows; “we are souls, spiritual entities encased within a material body.”

Of course, the material philosophers will say that no one has ever seen this “soul.” So lets look at what the evidence says, and how the evidence reaches a verdict.

Usually empirical evidence is scientific observation of data, forming a hypothesis, and proof of data, so forth. Powerful microscopes cannot see the soul; this is a fact. Thus we might draw the conclusion that empirical evidence of the soul is impossible to demonstrate. But this is not the case.

Accepting the fact that scientists cannot perceive the soul, still there are scientific methods of studying the experiences of common people, making case studies of their episodes of conscious perception outside of their bodies. This is a viable procedure for research scientists to establish evidence that consciousness is sometimes experienced outside of the brain and body.

The argument of the materialist is that the self is only a combination of material elements, and the consciousness of the self is also a combination of elements, and such consciousness seems to be centered in the brain. It is this seat of consciousness that a person receives all perceptions of the external world. Such a seat of consciousness has to be centered in the body, in the brain. A person cannot perceive any stimuli of the world from a focal point outside of his brain and body, claims scientific rational.

But, if evidence can demonstrate that perception is sometimes had from a focal point outside of the body, a point outside of the brain, then that would be proof that the conscious self is something different than the material body.

We find there are many case studies done by research scientists, wherein we see that thousands, if not millions, of people are recorded to have left their body and they have perceptions and consciousness outside of their bodies. This is called an OBE, or an “out-of-body experience.”

Of course, some scientists give some rationalization of these experiences, saying they are mere dreams, merely some fantasy imagery taking place within the brain.

However there are some experiences that do not tally to such a conclusion. One of the most profound cases of such an OBE is as follows. It involves the case of woman who was flat-lined in an operating table, her entire body was chilled [hypothermia] and her blood was temporarily removed so that the doctors could perform a delicate operation on her brain, the ablation of an aneurysm. This is reported by Michael Saborn, 1998. Ian Stevenson comments, “She was as dead as anyone could possibly be.” [Thompson 2003].

Despite the fact she was practically brain dead, with no neural activity recorded, still she later reported her experiences during the operation, outside of her body, as if she were floating in the air and looking down upon the doctors and her own body. She gave many details of what the doctors did, the conversations they had, repeating them word for word, as if she were consciously witnessing the whole operation as an outside observer.

There is an interesting follow-up to this story. There’s a popular late night radio talk show host, Art Bell, who made many comments on this case, saying this convinced him of the existence of the soul more than any other NDE he had ever heard of. Mr. Bell kept repeating his profound realization on his radio show for many weeks, and then one night he hosted his friend, a world-renowned physicist, Dr. Michio Kaku, who is a professor of theoretical physics at CUNY.

Art Bell recounted the whole story to Professor Kaku, explaining how she was brain dead and still had an out-of-body perception of the operation, re-playing the events and conversations of the doctors, word for word. Mr. Bell told his friend, Dr. Kaku, that this case convinced him [Bell] of the soul more than any other case history, and asked the Professor to comment.

At this point, I will explain the phenomenon of the KJDC reaction, that most humans experience. KJDC is a shortened acronym which means- “knee-jerk-denial of threats to core convictions.”

It’s common that most humans formulate a core conviction at sometime in their lives. Everyone has a need to acquire a concrete philosophy, a conviction that makes them feel secure in a world of conflicting ideas. Security is achieved by faith in some philosophy, some core belief. Some people reach a core conviction by means of personal searching, some adopt it by means of strong family or cultural persuasion. Most adapt to the cultural beliefs of the region of the world they were born into.

KJDC means that when a person forms a core conviction, in the core of their hearts, it is normal for them to listen only to evidence which supports their core conviction, and dismiss evidence which threatens their core conviction. They tend to protect this conviction, even at the risk of suspension of common sense and human rationality. Even their denial may render them to appear foolish and childish to other observers.

This is because a person’s core conviction is the most precious possession in one’s life, it’s the whole world to them, it’s their salvation, and loss of such is their damnation. To lose this core conviction is tantamount to a kind of suicide.

Professor Kaku is very intelligent, of this there is no doubt. However, his reply to Art Bell’s question was that even though the instruments showed no neural activity, still the brain is like a weak battery and still has an imperceptible charge that shows no detection. He makes this suggestion that even this weak electrical charge was capable of formulating such images and imaginary thoughts to explain her post-operative reports.

We find this a very weak argument, and not explaining how she knew certain visual and auditory details of the doctors and their actions and conversations from a position outside her body. We cannot imagine a flat-lined brain running on imperceptible juice, like that of a worn out AAA battery, and being capable of hearing and seeing such things from an outside focal point. So it’s not really a matter of being less-intelligent on the professor’s part, he is very intelligent, rather it’s a classic case of KJDC, he is blocking the logical progression of the facts, in order to secure his own core convictions, which is a normal process for most human beings.

However, this phenomenon of protecting core conviction is not absolutely necessary in all conditions. One can retain his core conviction and still be open to evidence, which seems to be in opposition, he merely has to modify his core beliefs, and one’s core conviction can still remain intact. One can still be a scientist and accept this evidence that consciousness is seen to be outside of the body. This principle is important for us to understand the 3 questions and respective answers in a way that the evidence demonstrates. Eventually question #2 will be answered via the two ancient philosophies … Om Tat Sat

Sriman conch shell heralds mangala arotik

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At the precise moment prior to mangala arotik, Makhana Taskara dasa appears in front of the doors and purses his lips to a white conch shell, held high in his hand, he draws his lungs full of air and trumpets the conch, which blazons loudly over the drone of japa, heralding the glorious and imminent appearance of Their Majestic Lordships.

All devotees take their respective positions in a line leading to the left doors that are soon to open. They prompt Jayananda to take the lead position in the front of the line. Upon the third conch trumpet of Lord Krishna’s glories, the deity doors swing open wide as the devotees sing in unison, “Jaya Jagannatha, Jaya Jagannatha,” loudly, again and again. Some exclaim, “Jaya Gour Nitai!” and some cry, “Jaya Sri Sri Radha-Gokulananda!” upon seeing Their Lordships. They proceed to bow down to the temple floor like sticks falling in the dust, for prostration and total surrender to the Lord.

Jayananda marvels at the beauty of Lord Jagannatha, thinking about the upcoming festival and Lord Jagannatha riding on His cart.

Lord Jagannatha is an ocean of mercy and He is beautiful like a row of blackish rain clouds. He is the storehouse of bliss for Laksmi and Sarasvati, and His face is like a spotless full-blown lotus. He is worshiped by the best of demigods and sages, and His glories are sung by the Upanisads. May that Jagannatha Svami be the object of my vision. – Jagannathastaka verse 4

Jayananda fondly remembers that Lord Jagannatha was the first deity to appear in the western world. Malati found a colorful figure with round eyes, and a big smile, in a barrel at Pier One store, in the Fisherman’s Wharf district. She purchased the figure and brought Him to Srila Prabhupada, who bowed down before the figure, and the devotees were amazed to witness Srila Prabhupada do this. Srila Prabhupada said that Lord Jagannatha had chosen to appear in America in this way.

Jayananda always meditates on the meaning of this final verse, “by the mercy of the spiritual master one receives the benediction of Krishna; without the grace of the spiritual master, one cannot make any advancement…” The import of this verse is Jayananda’s life and soul, his formula for spiritual success; he takes these words very seriously and acts in that spirit with every minute of his day.

After completion of the Sri Gurvastaka prayers, the jubilant mellows of Hare Krishna maha mantra begin to gracefully pore out from the devotees’ lotus mouths into their earholes like cascades of nectar, and the devotees are beaming with bliss. Chanting Hare Krishna and exchanging smiles of deep contentment, the devotees are feeling great joy from being the eternal servants of their dear master and father and guide, Srila Prabhupada.

I remember the first time I was there in the San Francisco temple, and that when the deity doors first opened up I was standing right in front of Lord Jagannatha. Actually, the first deities I saw that year were in Portland, the golden forms of Sri Sri Gour-Nitai. Also, I bought one of my first books in Portland; it was “Lord Caitanya in Five Features” which is the 7th chapter of Caitanya-caritamrta, and I read it with great interest.

The part I remember most was how Lord Caitanya sat down in the hallway and became as effulgent as “millions of suns.” The picture of this lila stuck in my head as the wonderful pastime of Lord Gauranga.

After sitting on the ground, Caitanya Mahaprabhu exhibited His mystic power by manifesting effulgence as brilliant as the illumination of millions of suns. – Cc Adi 7.60

Remembering those mangala arotiks, set within a dimly lit temple room, and Bhakta dasa striking his gong, and the beauty and spiritual ambience of the flowing, lightly dancing devotees, and the beautiful ritual of peacock and yak tail fans, and ghee lamp offerings to the Lord, and the song to our master, Srila Prabhupada, and the rich scent of exotic incense offered to the Lord … it all remains fresh to this day. I respectfully offer my full dandavats to the Vaisnavas, who eternally worship Sri Sri Radha Krishna with beautiful arotiks, as a regular daily function, in both the material and spiritual worlds. May such beautiful memories always remain within, especially the sacred images of our dear Jayananda dancing and singing joyfully in those arotiks.

I remember one day we were at the Ratha cart construction site, and Jayananda was telling me about this bar across the street, and he was observing how some men and women were dancing in intoxication and feeling lusty, and some small children were trying to join in with the adults. But, they shooed the kids away in disgust and continued their lusty dance which strongly suggested sexual intentions. Jayananda felt compassion for their ignorance and perverted desire of trying to get some pathetic pleasure from this dance and song. He commented how nice Krishna consciousness was, that even small children can join in with joyful singing and dancing along with the adults.

Humanity throughout the ages has always invented all kinds of music and dance styles, in order to aquire some so-called pleasure. They dance their dance, and play their music, in an effort to reach some state of ecstasy, which is actually the perpetual desire of all souls to procure the original esctasy found in the arotiks in Vaikuntha. But of course, their song and dance always falls short of the real esctasy, which everyone is hankering for, life after life. This is because their material music is only temporary and illusory, motivated by selfish and lusty desires, and not aimed at pleasing the supreme, Lord Sri Krishna. Therefore, it is never satisfying to the soul. When a person is fortunate enough to find a bona-fide spiritual master, only then can he cultivate the real song and dance that will unite him with Lord Sri Krishna and the spiritual world. Jayananda worked tirelessly to help people connect to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna, and thus find the perfection of music and dance, and obtain everlasting happiness and pleasure in the blissful service to the supreme.

Where every tree is a transcendental purpose tree, where the soil is made of purpose gems, where the water is nectar, where every word is a song and every step a dance, where the flute is the favorite attendant. – Sri Brahma-Samhita

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Jim Sullivan-

“And that year I was doing something…Prabhupada came, it was before the Ratha-yatra, and I was standing out in front of the Valencia Street temple on the north side of the front door, right in the front, and Jayananda was walking northbound from the south side of the door. It was the middle of the afternoon, and all of a sudden Prabhupada walked out the front door. I don’t know what he was doing or where he was going, maybe it was to preach to someone. But as soon as Prabhupada saw Jayananda, a huge smile came on Prabhupada’s face, a bigger smile than I ever saw, it was like a smile from ear to ear. And then recently after that I read in the Nectar of Devotion where it says, “When the spiritual master sees that a disciple is making very nice advancement, he smiles very nicely,” and I knew that’s what that was about.”

“It is important for us to know the reality of the spiritual world of the saints, beyond just a theoretical conception. The spiritual world, which is full of spiritual variety and countless saintly personalities, which is beyond our material eyes … that world is more real than this temporary and illusory world we are temporarily stuck in. When we read the beautiful transcendental literatures describing Lord Krishna’s pastimes, and the pastimes of the Vaisnava saints, we are vividly reminded of the supreme nature of the spiritual world, and the power of the saints. And we know from Srila Prabhupada, that the “whole process” is to pray to and connect with these saints and acharyas, such as Srila Prabhupada and Saint Jayananda, and the superior acharyas.” From “A Day in the Life of Jayananda Thakur”

I find this small text hard on old eyes, zoom in a few clicks for a much better view

Jayananda sits on a mat and chants with his back erect, his torso swaying forward and backward in rhythm to his intense japa, which reverberates throughout the temple. His singular devotion is sweetly relished by Lord Krishna, as well as the assembled Vaisnavas. The atmosphere looms with spiritual ambience, as the concerted japa of the assembled devotees resounds with a beehive drone of intense devotion to Lord Krishna.

The devotees would often look fondly upon Jayananda with great awe and deep affection. They are family and he is their protector, their big brother, and they feel out of harm’s way and secure when Jayananda is around. He makes everything right, the world is safe and life is good when he is with them. They feel so lucky, so privileged to be in his association.

Jayananda chanting with Nagaraja and Mitra

All the Krishna bhaktas are chanting very nicely, and especially Indranatha prabhu is relishing the japa tape of Srila Prabhupada, whose mystic chanting of “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna” resounds throughout the temple room with beautiful reverberation. Devotees are always thinking of, and meditating upon their wonderful spiritual master, Jagat Guru Srila Prabhupada, with great love. Indranatha especially relishes the early morning japa period which is highlighted with Srila Prabhupada’s sublime chanting of “Hare Krishna and Hare Rama…”

After many years gone by, since the Valentia temple, still there is a family of devotees who regularly associate with Jayananda, by prayer and smaranam, meditating on his life and qualities, talking and hearing of him, somehow connecting with Jayananda our saint, thinking of him as our big protective brother, feeling secure and happy in his association. We try to follow his example and try to be a servant of the servant of the great servant of Lord Krishna, Srila Prabhupada. I believe that the Valentia temple will eternally be manifest in the spiritual world, and our family of devotees and Jayananda will always have pastimes of serving Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna there.

Although he is behind the scenes, everything goes on nicely because of his presence. – Balabhadra dasa

Bhakti Tirtha Swami said of Jayananda-

“We should strive to attain the mood of the pure devotees, such as Queen Kunti, Draupadi, Maharaja Pariksit, Dhruva Maharaja, Devaki and Vasudeva, Haridasa Thakura, Srila Prabhupada, Jayananda Thakura, and Arjuna, who ultimately derived great bliss from completely surrendering to Krishna.”

Indranatha dasa said of Jayananda-

“Jayananda was one of about 60 or more devotees staying there in the San Francisco temple at that time. And even then there was something about him that separated him from the rest of the group of devotees. I realize now that it was because he was so surrendered. Even the big-time devotees — you know the sannyasis and like that — when they saw Jayananda they would all offer their obeisances to him. One could notice that he was a special devotee.”

Indranatha prabhu stayed with Jayananda in the final days and served him so nicely and made him as comfortable as possible; he loved Jayananda greatly.

Jayananda gave love to everyone. That is our mission, to give love of God, love of Krishna to all the souls of this material world. And to love Krishna’s devotee, that is just as good as love of God. So Jayananda got people to greatly admire him, he got them to love him, and in that way they loved God, through the yoga of loving Krishna’s devotee. Ordinary people loved Jayananda, he melted their hearts.

Jayananda makes Krishna’s devotees extremely happy; he puts a bliss into their hearts that is hard to describe, hard to put into words. He compounds exponentially the bliss we feel from serving and remembering Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna.

This is the love that every person in this material world is actually looking for, all their lives. This is the only kind of real love, love of Krishna, via the love of His devotee. Other kinds of love in this material world are simply temporary and false, and disappointing. Only the love of God and His devotees is the actual real love. Only divine love is completely satisfying to the soul.

Jayananda had the gift of giving this divine love to the work-a-day ordinary people he met on a regular basis. The hardened New York bureaucrat lady cried uncontrollably and left the room, when she heard Jayananda was gone. Murli-Krsna ran a temple vehicle into a police car, damaging the fender. The policeman came to his window, and said, “Oh, you know Johnny-ananda?” Murli said “Yes.” The policeman said, “That’s ok, you can go on.” Murli wrecked the fender of a police car, but the officer let him go! That was because the man felt love for Jayananda. I went to a store for some parts, for Ratha-yatra one year, and they asked about Jayananda. I had to tell them the unfortunate event, that he had left our vision. I saw tears in their eyes, out of love for him; they gave the parts free to me, in memory of him. Devotees and people of all walks of life loved him dearly.

We worship Krishna, we read His pastimes, we love Krishna, and we know we have a personal relationship with Him. Sometimes we feel far away from the actual personal service and connection with Lord Krishna. Like, who am I to serve Krishna? I only know Krishna through His saints. We have the process to serve Him in His holy name, His deity form, and hearing and remembering His pastimes. We serve Him through His saints, and He always remains with us through thick and thin, in our hearts, through millions of births, always helping us to advance in His service. There is no greater friend than Lord Krsna. We read His Lila, how He is happy in the association of the gopis, or when playing with the cowherd boys, and so we become happy by hearing how our Lord Krishna is eternally happy with His pure devotees. We hanker to join Krishna in His eternal association, when He is permitting.

We love Srila Prabhupada always, and we continually worship and serve him, and think of him always. He is Jagat-guru, and he is there for all of us, for all of humanity. When he was manifest in the 70’s, I always felt like a mouse in a herd of elephants around Srila Prabhupada, always looking inward from the outside perimeter of devotees; still I always felt an intimate and personal connection with him. Srila Prabhupada is all pervading like Krishna; he is always there for all his disciples and followers. He lives forever in his books, he lives forever in his spiritual legacy, and he lives in the thoughts and words and deeds of his millions of followers.

In order to serve Lord Krishna we must first worship Krishna’s servants, we must worship His saints. Krishna says, “I consider worship of My devotees to be better than direct worship of Me. If someone attempts to worship Me directly without worshiping My devotees, I do not accept such worship, even though it may be presented with great opulence.” – KB 86

We love to read about the Vaisnava saints and previous acharyas and serve them and worship them, and we beg for their benedictions to grant us devotional service unto Lord Sri Krishna. Sometimes we read about the wonderful life of Rasikananda, like the time he wept with compassion for the two men who tried to kill him, because they were slain by snakebite.

Sometimes we read and meditate on the lives and writings of one of the six gosvamis, such as Srila Rupa Gosvami or Srila Sanatana Gosvami. Sometimes we worship the lives of Sri Ramanuja or Sri Madhvacharya, or Vamsi dasa. Often we read of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Maharaja and other acharyas of the parampara, and all the wonderful saints in Srimad Bhagavatam and Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, and we give them all of our worship.

Sometimes we meditate on the lives of Srila Prabhupada’s saintly devotees, such as Visnujana Swami, and Tribhuvannatha prabhu, and Hladini dasi, to name a few. Visnujana Swami said, “I was coming to the temple regularly and then I realized I’m living among saints.”

We relish the wonderful stories of Visnujana Swami, how he played mrdanga every day in harinama, until his fingers bled, and how tears were streaming down his face, and other stories we read in Radha-Damodara-Vilasa, and the folio.

We read about Tribhuvannatha prabhu on the internet, on the Prabhupada connect website, and there is soon to be a book on Tribhuvannatha.

There is a book about the life of Hladini dasi, titled “Legacy of Love, a Servant’s Quest,” in which we read in her letter to Srila Prabhupada, “I simply want to be useful – am I pleasing you? I gave this life, all of it. ”

There are so many other saints and “unsung heroes” amongst Srila Prabhupada’s disciples, such as Madanacini dasi, who served Lord Jagannatha for 35 plus years steadily at the San Francisco and Berkeley temple. And I could name hundreds of more unsung heroes, who lovingly served Srila Prabhupada, but then I would be guilty of neglecting to mention the names of the other hundreds of saintly devotees, and so suffice it to say that there are so many saints and unsung heroes in Srila Prabhupada’s movement, we cannot count them all.

Jayananda is our omnipresent saint; he is there for all of us, bar none. He increases exponentially the love we feel for Srila Prabhupada and Lord Krishna and His devotees. We all can be directly connected to Jayananda, because he is there for all devotees who pray to him and meditate on his life. Makes no difference who you are, where you are, or what generation of disciple you are, he is in your corner. Doesn’t matter if you are good or bad, if you have all bad qualities, or if you are 1% surrendered to Krishna, or 50% or 90% surrendered, none of these factors have any bearing on Jayananda giving his association, and granting a connection to our saint. Jayananda Thakur is every devotee’s saint, he is always there for us, and he is ready to bestow his blessings and intimate instructions directly into the heart of any person who prays for his service. We only need to follow his example, even to the smallest degree, and all good fortune will attend us.

If I can follow even an atomic portion
of his life, I will consider myself
extremely fortunate.
– Haribol, Bharat dasa

* * *

I am praying to Jayananda Prabhu every day, I have a photo of him next to my bed. I pray that he gives us the inspiration and guidance so we can take his mood with us everywhere we go, everywhere we preach with everyone we meet. – Vasudeva das

* * *

Later I was up on top of the truck with Jayananda, helping him. I felt such warmth from him, like being back with an old, old friend. I asked him a question, “What is the problem? Why can’t we just surrender to Krishna? It seems like an easy thing.” He gave me this blissful smile like he was pleased that I asked him a philosophical question. He said, “It’s not so easy because we are all rascals.” I was surprised to hear him say that. I was naive at the time and thought all these shaven-headed devotees were so pure. I expected to hear him say that surrender wasn’t easy for others, just the others, but he humbly included himself. This was our first exchange. It felt so good to be able to talk with Jayananda. I was thinking that he was such an exceptional person, and yet he would talk with me like an old friend. From “The Beautiful Life of Jayananda Thakur”

* * *

Jayananda’s family relates these memories-

“They told me [Mother Kalindi devi dasi] that Jayananda was always so kind; even as a child he never spoke badly of others. From the many stories they told me his saintly qualities shined through even as a child. Gaynelle [Jayananda’s sister] told me that her brother once spent hours on a family vacation at the beach picking ticks and fleas off of a homeless dog. He couldn’t stand to watch its suffering. Jayananda’s nephew then told me he remembers running around the kitchen table as a small child with his uncle laughing and chanting Hare Krsna.”

This post is a collection of excerpts
from “A Day in the Life of Jayananda Thakur”
www.jayananda.com